


Whole

by doomed_spectacles



Category: Swamp Thing (Comics)
Genre: Conversations, F/M, Ficlet, Fluff, Gentleness, MofuBingo, Vignette
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-03
Updated: 2021-02-03
Packaged: 2021-03-15 07:54:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 576
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29185866
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/doomed_spectacles/pseuds/doomed_spectacles
Summary: Abby wakes from a nap in the swam, and finds a snail missing part of its shell. She and Alec talk about what it means to them.This is simply a short, gentle moment between Alec and Abby in the swamp.
Relationships: Abby Arcane Holland/Swamp Thing
Kudos: 1





	Whole

**Author's Note:**

> For the prompt "slime/goo".

Abby came to awareness reluctantly, like she needed to wade through a sticky sweet syrup to get there. In autumn, the swamp buzzed. The air hummed with the electric buzz saws of tiny insects. (And not so tiny ones.) Their song was a Louisiana lullaby, harsh but true.

Her pillow, a bed of moss on Alec's chest that he'd shaped for her, rippled as he realized she was awake.

“Hello.”

“Hello, Abby.”

“I dozed off.”

“...Yes.”

“Oh!”

Her foot, bare since she'd entered the swamp, was tickled by the twitching tentacle of a tiny snail. It traveled up to her ankle, leaving a trail of orange goo in its wake. Abby watched it move, holding her breath to keep herself still.

“What are you doing here, little one?”

“He… lost his shell,” Alec said. She looked closer at the snail, who had reached the protruding bone of her ankle joint and traversed it as a traveler would trek up a mountain. Its shell was an ombre of orange and yellow, matching its sticky insides. But one side was cracked, leaving a jagged edge. From it, a green shell had grown to cover the soft exposed belly and lungs of the creature.

“And you gave him a new one, didn't you?”

“…Yes.”

Abby put her hand down on her calf, directly in the snail’s path. He touched the tip of her finger with his tentacle, tentatively feeling her fingerprint. It tickled. When she laughed at the sensation, she felt a cool breeze rippling through the little branches Alec had grown in place of hair. She felt his amusement in the way his presence changed the scent of the air. Alec smiled and the world was sweeter for it.

“Alec is very good at providing a place for wayward creatures to hide,” she said to the little snail climbing on her fingers. Her ankle was sticky where it’d left its footprint, a snail breadcrumb trail so he’d never be lost.

“Abby… do you need to hide? Here?”

She shook her head. “No, that’s not exactly it. Hide isn’t the right word.” Abby tilted her head back to rest on the soft surface of Alec’s chest. He’d carved out a place for her in it, like a bassinet made of living wood. He looked down at her with those ancient eyes. His eyes saw so much more in her than she imagined.

“But it _is_ the right word, too. When I’m here, I don’t have to worry because the outside world is so far away,” she said. She smiled. “It’s like hiding but it’s like this little guy. He needs his shell to keep him together. It keeps him whole. I know what that’s like.”

Abby felt a ripple flowing through Alec’s body as he considered this. His flowers swayed in a thoughtful breeze. The little snail twitched in her palm and she set it down on the ground next to Alec. The snail slowly moved away, toward an unknown destination, his mismatched halves keeping him safe.

Alec held her close, circling her waist with one of his strong arms. She stroked his mossy fingers with hers and rested her head back on his curved chest.

“Whole,” Alec said. He took her hand, stroking the puddle of orange goo left behind by the snail until he’d absorbed it into his body. With the trill of autumn insects in her ears, Abby drifted back into a deep dreamful sleep, undisturbed.

**Author's Note:**

> [This is me on tumblr](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/doomed-spectacles) \- it's mostly Good Omens, DC, and Doctor Who.


End file.
